Railway switch and signal track trip.



0. M. HURST. RAILWAY SWITCH AND SIGNAL TRACK TRIP.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 1, 1906.

PATENTED JUNE 9, 1908.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

33) 37 36 o 8 Q a I I I 1 I T I m I I 127 42$ M J L5 I I T 0 60 I all A? 2 o T I i I 2 Wl'hzaiisas. mm W 6Z4 6%.-

No. 890,360. PATENTED JUNE 9, 1908.

1G. M. HURST. RAILWAY SWITCH AND SIGNAL TRAGKTRIP.

APPLIOATION FILED OUT. 1, 1906.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

4lllllllllll- UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES M. HURST, OF RAWLINS, WYOMING.

RAILWAY SWITCH AND SIGNAL TRACK TRIP.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, CHARLES M. HURST, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Rawlins, county of Carbon, and State of Wyoming, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Railway Switch and Signal Track Trips, of which'the following is a specification, and which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, forming a 1 part thereof.

upon the bar to swing it as it passes, and asheretofore constructed these devices have necessarily been so limited in length that the bar is passed and released by the shoe or wheel of one truck or car of a train before it is engaged by that of the next and have, therefore, been inapplicable for operating those mechanisms which are arranged to alternately open and close switches or to lock them against movement.

The object of the invention is to provide a trip of the type described, adapted to be actuated by a moving train to operate a switch or signal mechanism, and which shall be of such length that when once engaged by a passing train it will remain in its shifted position until 'all of the contacting parts of the train have passed, and will therefore produce but one change in the mechanism to which it is connected for each train that passes.

The invention is exem lified in the structure to be hereinafter cfescribed and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a plan view of a detail of a railway track showing a trip apron constructed according to the invention in its preferred form, applied thereto; Fig. 2 is a vertical section on the line 22 of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2 but showing the parts in a different position, some of the parts being omitted in Figs. 2 and 3 for the sake of clearness; Fig. 4 is a perspective of one of Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed. October 1, 1906.

Patented June 9, 1908.

Serial No. 336,988.

the arts; Fig. 5 is a detail plan of a railway tracli showing a modified form of the improved track trip; Fig. 6 shows in side elevation a still further modification; Fig. 7 is a detail plan of a railway track showing a trip constructed as in Fig. 6; and Fig. 8 is a sectional detail of the construction illustrated in Figs. 6 and 7.

Details of the rails of a track are shown in the drawings at 10, 10, and the form of trip apron illustrated is of that type which is placed close to the rails of a track in the proper position to be engaged by the rims of the car wheels running on the track and swings in a vertical lane. Preferably,

though not necessarily, t e trip mechanism is so constructed that it may be operated by a train moving in either direction, and is carried by anchor-blocks 11, 12, rigidly secured to the railway ties 13, 14. It comprises a pair of inclined bars 15, 16, each having one endpivotally united to one of the anchorblocks 11, 12, as indicated at 17, 18, and the free ends of the bars are united by a horizontally disposed bar or link 19.

The parts 15, 16 and 19 are preferably formed of bars of. T section, having their flanges 20 facing upwardly and providing suitable contact surfaces to be engaged by the wheels of the train in operating the trip. Preferably a portion of the flange 20 is cut away, as indicated at 21, at both ends of each of the bars to permit a properconnection of the parts with each other andwith the anchor-blocks 11 and 12 of the track, while a rabbeted union of the parts between which there is a sliding movement when the trip is depressed to the position illustrated in Fig. 3 of the drawings, is formed by offsetting the web of the bars, as shown at 22, Fig. 4. Bolts 23, 24, are employed for pivotally uniting the bars, and one or more of the bolt apertures 25 is slotted.

A pair of crank shafts 26, 27, preferably substantially perpendicular to the track line and extending across the track below its rails, are journaled in bearing plates 28 mounted, in the form of construction illustratedinFig's. 1 and 4 inclusive, upon the ties 29 of the track, and a crank arm of each is operatively connected to the trip apron by means of links 30 and 31, uniting the crank-arm wrist pins 32 with the bolts 23, 24, respectively.

The trip is connected to a switch or signal mechanism (not shown) by means of a tension rod 33 attached to the free end of a sec- 0nd crank arm 34 of one of the crank shafts, as 26, and preferably the two crank shafts 26, 27, are so united that the movement of either or both may operate the tension rod 33 by means of an eye-bar 36 joined to the crank arm 34 of the crank shaft 26, and to a corresponding crank arm 35 of the crank shaft 27. Means are provided for returning the trip apron to its normal position after it has been depressed and released by a passing train, and, as shown, this takes the form of a spring 37 coiled about a portion of the tension rod 33 and reacting between a fixed shoulder 39, through which the rod passes, and a suitable cross-head 38 carried by the rod. In practice this form of trip apron may be placed close to one of the rails 10 of a railway track, such that it will be engaged by the rim of a Wheel X rolling on the rail to depress it to the position illustrated in Fig. 3, and preferably the bar 19 is of such length that a part of the apron will always be engaged by one of the wheels of a passing train, and when once depressed will remain depressed until the entire train has passed, producing, therefore, but one change in the switch or signal mechanism to which it is connected.

Preferably the inclined bars 15 16, the link 19, and the anchor blocks 11 and 12 are duplicated for each side of the track, as shown in Fig. 1, both sets of these parts being connected to operate the same crank shafts 26 and 27. It may be desirable, in some instances, to place the trip in such a position that it will be operated by the wheels of a train as they pass a switch. A form of construction for such a use in connection with a "point switch is illustrated in Fig. 5, while a still further modification, convenient for use in connection with a stub rail switch is illustrated in Figs. 6, 7 and 8.

In Fig. 5 is illustrated a detail of a railway track including a point switch, a fixed and movable rail of which are designated 41 and 42, respectively. In applying a trip constructed according to the invention to such a portion of a track, a curved link 40, conforming generally in shape to that part of the fixed rail of the switch against which it rests, is employed for uniting the free ends of the pivoted bars 15, 16.

The movable and fixed rails of a stub rail switch are illustrated at 43 and 44, respectively, of Figs. 6 and 7 of the drawings, and one form of trip convenient for use in connection with such a switch is shown applied thereto. This trip is preferably sectional, being divided, as indicated at 45, at a point adjacent the union of the switch rails, and one of the sections is carried directly by the movable rails of the switch, one of its crank shafts 46 being journaled in bearing blocks 47 (Fig. 8) secured by a clamping bolt 48 to the lower flange of the rail. As shown the two sections of the trip are united by eye-bars 49, 50, to the tension rod 33leading to the switch mechanism. If desired the trip may be still further modified by jointing the horizontal link member, as indicated at 51, 52, Figs. 6 and 7, an additional crank shaft, as 53, 54, being then provided beneath each joint and being connected to the pivot bolt 55 of the joint by a link 56.

I claim as my inventio'n- 1. In a track trip, in combination, a pair of levers each having one of its ends pivoted to a fixed support, a link connecting the free ends of the levers, a pair of cr'ank shafts united to swing together, and operative connection between the wrist pin of each crank shaft and the free end of one of the levers.

2. In a track trip, in combination, a pair of contact levers each having one of its ends pivoted to a fixed support, a contact link connecting the free ends of the levers, a crank shaft, and operative connection between the wrist pin of the crank shaft and the free end of one of the levers.

3. In a track trip, in combination, a pair of contact levers each having one of its ends pivoted to a fixed support, the free ends of the levers being directed toward each other, a

contact link connecting the free ends of the levers, a crank shaft, and a link connecting the free end of one of the levers with the wrist pin of the shaft.

4. In a track trip, in combination, a pair of levers each having one of its ends pivoted to a fixed support, a jointed link connecting the free ends of the levers, a plurality of crank shafts united to swing together, and operative connection between thewrist pin of one of the shafts and the free end of one of the levers and between the wrist pin ofone of the shafts and the link joint.

5. In a track trip, in combination, a pair of levers each having one of its ends pivoted to a fixed support, a jointed link connecting the free ends of the levers, a crank shaft, and operative connection between the wrist pin of the shaft and the link joint.

6. In combination, a track comprising a bed and a rail secured to the bed, a trip apron comprising a link movably supported in a position substantially parallel to the track rail and an approach to the link normally inclined to the track rail, and switch-controlling mechanism leading from the link support.

I. W. LANE, J. F. HURsT. 

